Rebecca Romaine: St. Augustine Real Estate Round Up

When I first talked to Renee Unsworth about writing a real estate column for her website, Totally St. Augustine, I asked myself, Â â€œWhat do Totally St. Augustine readers want to know about real estate?â€

I thought about what people ask me when Iâ€™m around town, at my kidsâ€™ bus stop and at community events. People ask me things like â€œWhat did that house on the corner sell for?â€ â€œHow much do you think that house is worth?â€ â€œWhat is the market doing?â€

People want to know how the market is changing, what is the local inventory and how supply and demand are shifting. People donâ€™t usually ask me how to stage their home for sale. So I decided to gather up some statistics and share them with Totally St. Augustine.

Real Estate agents use a tool called the Multiple Listing Service, or MLS to provide data regarding active, pending and closed home sales. The MLS is updated in real time and provides accurate stats for us to share with our buyers and sellers. Itâ€™s different from some popular real estate websites because it updates constantly and provides accurate information all the time. The local MLS breaks up our county into several searchable sections based on location. I will share some stats from St. Augustine Beach and surrounding areas. If you have additional areas or communities you would like to know about Iâ€™m happy to share those too.

The summer of 2014 has been busy in the area of St. Augustine Beach and South St. Augustine Beaches. SinceÂ June 1st, a total of 177 homes sold just in these areas. 89 homes with 2 or fewer bedrooms sold, Â 65 were 3 bedrooms and 23 homes had 4 or more bedrooms. Â The average sales price for a 3 bedroom home on Anastasia Island this summer was $295,000. These homes sold at an average of 95% of their listed price. Homes with 4 or more bedrooms sold for and average sales price of $672,000 at 90% of their listed price. Letâ€™s look closer at a few neighborhoods in Anastasia Island.

SeaGrove currently has only two single family residence properties listed for sale. Luxury condominiums in SeaGrove currently have 0 active listings in the MLS, however there is one listed for sale by owner. This is a huge drop in inventory from previous years where the community used to have anywhere from 20-25 homes for sale approximately three summers ago. SeaGrove is an excellent example of a community who has bounced back from the housing market crash of 2007. Although most prices are still below that of 2006, this community is thriving and buyers are waiting for houses to come on the market in this area. Recently closed sales in SeaGrove range from a 3 bedroom 2 bath with 1,867 sq. feet of living space which closed at $285,000 and a 2,260 sq ft home with 4 bedrooms and 2 baths that closed at $389,000. These figures show a great improvement in the area and I expect to continue to see this trend for SeaGrove.

Davis Shores is a much larger community on the island, homes range from small and quaint to large executive waterfront homes with beautiful views of our Intercoastal waterway and marshes. Two examples of recently closed homes in Davis Shores illustrates the variety of properties to be found in this diverse community. Both homes built in the late 1950s, living space differ only by 500 sq feet, but the highest closed home sold at a price of $360,000 with 4 bedrooms and 4 baths, with lots of updates and recent renovations. The lowest closed property in Davis Shores this summer with 4 bedrooms 3 baths closed for $152,000. This home was a bank owned foreclosure, in need of updating. But you can see how well these homes will hold their value with the right improvements! Great deals still exist if you know where to look.

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Rebecca Romaine is a licensed Real Estate Agent with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Network Realty in St. Augustine, Florida. Rebecca has been married for 13 years and is raising her three children here in St. Augustine Beach.Â www.rebeccaromaine.com

All data was compiled from the St. Johns County Board of Realtors Multiple Listing Service as of 9/7/2014